Guillermo del Toro Talks HAUNTED MANSION and His Love of HARRY POTTER

As most of you know, I recently did an epic hour-long video interview with director Guillermo del Toro, and over the past week I’ve been breaking it down into smaller segments. For today’s installment, del Toro talks about the status of Disney’s Haunted Mansion and his love of Harry Potter. While it’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything on Haunted Mansion, del Toro said:

“I delivered my last draft five weeks ago. I have a meeting with them in three weeks. I know they like the screenplay. I need to meet with them in three weeks. That’s what I know. I know their reaction to the draft was good. We have a bunch of conceptualist art, but you never know, to predict anything else is hard for me to know.”

He goes on to say that while he came on board as a writer and producer, he thinks Disney is waiting for him to say he wants to direct it. But according to del Toro, “I’m in the middle of Pacific Rimand I don’t know what I’m going to do next.” More after the jump.

From the way del Toro talks about Haunted Mansion, it’s clear the project is still moving forward but it doesn’t have anything resembling a release date.

Regarding Harry Potter, del Toro talks about his love of the books and how he almost directed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. However, when I brought up the possibility of Warner Bros. eventually rebooting the series, del Toro was pretty adamant that he wouldn’t be involved by saying, “I would not tamper with that.”

Here’s the section of the interview on Harry Potter and Haunted Mansion. Look for more with del Toro tomorrow night.

full transcript below video

Guillermo del Toro Time Index:

0:15 – Guillermo del Toro talks about his love of the Harry Potter books and how he almost directed the third film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but was afraid of the magnitude of the tonal shift from the first two films.

3:50 – Del Toro says he would still love to make the Haunted Mansion film.

Collider: Is there anything you’ve been offered or come close to doing that you still think about, “Man, I really wish I’d said yes,” or, “I wish that’d gone to me?” Is there that one property that still stings a little bit?

GUILLERMO DEL TORO: To me, the final books of Harry Potter. They’re fantastic. I always loved the books and I think, often, that world, those actors was amazing. I really think about that one, not with regret, but with great curiosity, because I love them. The first two books were a revelation. When I didn’t take the third one, I was reacting more to the two movies that came first and I felt the tone was much lighter than the books. I thought the books had almost a more Dickensian pathos and I was very afraid of going into an experience where the tonal shift was going to be so big at that scale. I was timid.

What’s interesting is, the property of Harry Potter is so massive and such a machine for Warner Brothers, obviously they’re still trying to figure out how they’re going to replace the box office from that…I would imagine at some point down the road, whenever that may be, there’ll either be a reboot, a TV show, there’ll be something. If they ever came to you in ten years and said, “We’re thinking about doing Harry Potter as an HBO, 13-episode thing…”

DEL TORO: No, because I think it’s an iconic property at this stage. It is a beautifully realized world that has a beginning, a middle and an end. It’s not an open playground. The Harry Potter films should be loved for what they are already, you know what I’m saying? It’s a case closed.

I still think, with that amount of money, that Warner Bros. is going to say, either re-releasing them or whatever it may be.

DEL TORO: I would not tamper with that.

Neither would I, but, you know. Jumping into something else that came up recently, Disney has removed from their website, which has been there for a number of years, this Haunted Mansion page, which is no longer there. A lot of people are reading into this. Is there anything you want to tell people about Haunted Mansion?

DEL TORO: No, there’s no news. I delivered my last draft five weeks ago. I have a meeting with them in three weeks. I know they like the screenplay. I need to meet with them in three weeks. That’s what I know. I know their reaction to the draft was good. We have a bunch of conceptualist art, but you never know, to predict anything else is hard for me to know. I should have called them and said, “Hey.” Usually, it’s very hard for me to predict what a thing like that means.

It’s on the press site, I’m just telling you and everyone watching, they have a listing of all their movies, and Haunted Mansion has been there since Comic-Con when they put up their teaser thing. And recently, I guess, it’s not on the page anymore.

DEL TORO: Maybe I should give them a call. [laughs]

I don’t know if it’s because of any specific reason, but it still isn’t in front of cameras. You know what I mean?

DEL TORO: Yeah, I still would love to make that movie. I came on board originally as a writer and producer, the decision I think they may be waiting, is for me to say I’m directing the movie. Or am I directing it next, which is too early for me to know what I’m doing next in live-action. I’m in the middle of Pacific Rim and I don’t know what I’m going to do next.

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